A Political Ecology of Fisheries Regulation and Community Resilience in the Coastal Mississippi River Delta, Southeast Louisiana, U.S.A.

The estuaries of the Mississippi River Delta are among the most productive coastal ecosystems in the world and have attracted human fishing communities for centuries. Beginning in the early 20th century, the oil and gas industry also emerged as a powerful economic force in exploiting coastal fossil fuel deposits. This paper reviews the complex history of the oil and gas industry in Southeast Louisiana, including its relationships with political corruption, inequality, pollution, and environmental catastrophe; and also its role in supporting coastal fishing communities with complementary economic opportunities. In the 21st century, a series of disasters—above all Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the B.P. oil spill in 2010—drew attention to the risks inherent to the region, as well as its crucial role in buffering the impacts of tropical storms for inland urban communities. This paper examines the evolution of fisheries regulations and their consequences of small-scale fishers, focusing especially on the banning of gill net use in 1990s. By combining historical information with ethnographic interviews and participant observation, this paper examines the complex political–economic forces involved in shifting regulatory frameworks and policies, and it shows their negative consequences for fishing communities facing an existentially threatening combination of coastal erosion, fisheries declines, and various macroeconomic headwinds. This paper argues that resilient coastal communities are crucial to combating the environmental problems facing coastal regions and that rethinking fisheries regulations may be a dynamic tool in enhancing community resilience.